i cobbled the leakdown tester together today and it won't hold any pressure, just makes a kindof quiet darth vader breathing sound
wondering if i didn't have the piston in the right spot i rotated it down a little and the air started coming out the spark plug hole.
so.
crank case at a minimum doesn't seem to be sealing.
timing is static on these, and it does fire on starter fluid so timing might not be perfect but it's close enough for now. if i tear this thing down to do the crank case seals i'll be able to see the timing parts.
so at minimum the crank or case seal seems to be dead and if i'm reading this correctly they are on the inside of the case so have to split things open. this rabbit hole gets spendy in a hurry, it's probably due for a piston and rings, maybe a cylinder, according to one maintenance schedule i found. some teardown is in order in any case.